Tedder for spreading cut grass and the like



May 21, 1940. v M. NEIDHART 2,201,313 TEDDER FOR SPREADING CUT GRASS AND THE LIKE FilQd 0012. 12, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 7 Z z 5' v 35 7 I 77 36. o -Y.--- 5 Z Z 7/ 0 x9 y 1, 1940. M. NEIDHART 2,201,318

TEDDER FOR SPREADING CUT GRASS AND THE LIKE Filed Oct. 12, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 21 1940 h iiii'iilh Sirh'ifi PATENT OFFECE TEDDER FOR SPREADING CUT GRASS AND THE LIKE Martin Neidhart, Bonstetten, Switzerland Application October 12, 1938, Serial No. 234,702 1 In Switzerland October 30, 1937 2 Claims. (01. 56-372) This invention relates to tedders for spreading 'eW Which p o t 111130 annular o s 22 cut grass nd th like, in the road wheel axle I8 by which means the In previously known machines fgr preading road wheels i are secured on the road wheel axle cut grass or the like it is old to have the fork-supagainst Shifting in e axial d ct on. In the porting arms circulate about a supporting axle hub of each road Wheel I a ratchet mechanism is 6 offset at the rear with respect to the wheel axle. included Which s P d W h two pawls 24 A chief disadvantage of such constructions conleaded by p g 23 and adap d to Cooperate With sist in that the distance from the ground to the a ratchet Wheel 25 y d t the read Wheel rotating supporting arms of the forks varies, aceXle cording to the unevenness of the gr u d, with During the forward movement of the machine 10 respect to the constant level of the wheel axle, the reed Wheel eXle 8 s u ned in unison with so that the forks can engage the material only the road wheels 4 due to cooperation of the pawls incompletely or not at all, or will strik th 25 with the ratchet wheels 25,, whereas during the ground whereby the effi iency of operation is rearward movement of the machine the pawls r d In addition, th arrangement f t E i are ineffective, so that the road wheel axle I8 15 supporting shaft of the fork arms behind the is 1311115 not T0 One end portion of the wheel axle brings with it additional or excessive road Wheel axle is a clutch control collar weight, thus requiring a heavier chassis a d rwhich is axially displaceable on this axle, is com respondingly increased power for moving th nected for common rotation. Into the circum- V m hi fercntial groove of the clutch control collar 21 20 In the machine of the present invention there projects a fork 3 which is Connected, y ea s is provided on the wheel axle differently inclined Of bolt 29 mounted on t e Carr er frame I in a fork-supporting arms which circulate in different bearing Socket thereof, W th an arm 30. This i li planes b t th wheel l arm is connected by means of an adjusting rod 3| As a result, the axle of the fork-supporting With o a co lever o ted on 25 arms has a constant, proper distance from the the Carrier frame grgund, which also, assures prgper engagement On the hand control lever 32 a handle 33 is t t material on gry uneven ground while rockably mounted which is connected by means the different angles of the circulatory planes of a connecting rod 34 with a k n pawl 35 the forks with respect to the wheel axle provide plvotally arranged on the hand control lever 32. 30 effective distribution or spreading of the mate- This l W s ad p d to p te W th a toothed rial engaged by the forks, for example, even long Sector 36 mounted on the carrier frame i, for grass. A simple and light construction, the the purpose of locking t d control lever 32 weight of which is at the same time balanced in its various positions of adjustment By reand which is easily portable, is thus provided. tractihg the locking pawl 35, y means of the 35 An embodiment of the invention is illustrated handle 33 against the influence of a compression in the accompanying drawings in which spring 33', the hand control lever 32 is released Fig. 1 is a side sectional view taken on the for being ed y according y ing e line 1 of Fig 2; hand control lever 32, the clutch control collar 610 Fig. 2 is a plan view partly in section; 21 can be connected with or disconnected from 40 Fig. 3 is an axial section of one of the end the dished wheel v o of the adjusting rod portions of the road Wheel axle on a larger scale; 3| and the fork 23, Whlch Wheel is rotatably Fig 4 i a cross ti on t h 1v v in mounted on the road Wheel axle [8 but is kept Fig from axial displacement thereon. Fig 5 is a cross Section on the line v v of When the clutch control collar 21 is connected, 45 Fig 3; o the rotational movement of the road Wheel axle Fig 6 i a id elevation of the parts hown in iS transmitted to the dished Wheel 3 p and turns by means of its interiorly toothed rim 3' Fig. 7 shows an axial section of the drive of a a ar wheel 4 whi h s mounted through t support for forks inclined to the axis of the road um f its p v t p in a bearing wh l l ranged on the carrier frame 1 (Fig. 3). The gear The two road wheels of t machine are desig- Wheel 4 transmits rotational movement to a gear nated by i, whereas the numeral it refers to the wheel 5, which is also secured to the pivot pin axle of the road wheelsv i and cooperates with a pinion 6, whereby a hol- On the hubs of the road Wheels i are provided low shaft 9 surrounding the road wheel axle I8 55 is connected with this pinion. Together with the hollow shaft'9 a support 20, 20 fastened to the second end of this shaft is turned together with forks Z which are secured to said support, the plane of rotation of which is perpendicular to the road wheel axle I8. Together with the hollow shaft 9 are further turned two level gear wheels I! firmly connected to this shaft each of which meshes with a toothed rim I6 (Fig. 7). Each toothed rim I6 forms part of a hub II' of a support II, II carrying forks Z or Z, so that these forks Z, Z also turn together with the hollow shaft 9. The supports II, II and 20, 20 each forms a wheel spider carrying a fork on each arm.

As shown in Fig. 7, in each of the two supports I I, I I a rolling friction bearing is included which bearings are parallel one to the other and each of which is provided with an outer annular race I3 and rollers Hi and is engaged by a common non-rotatable inner race block I". The axis of l the two rolling friction bearings provided for the by means of an arm 31 on a collar 37'.

supports II, II are obliquely disposed to the road wheel axle I8, the obliquity angles being different for the two rolling friction bearings. The two fork supports I l, I I are accordingly inclined at different angles to the road wheel axle I8 and to the fork supports 20, 2!! so that adjacent fork supports perform circulatory movements in planes extending at acute angles to each other.

The race blocks I5" of the two roller bearings are mounted on pipe stubs 9' surrounding the hollow shaft 9. One of these pipe stubs 9 is firmly secured to the carrier frame I by one of its ends The second end of this pipe stub 9' on which the race block i5 of the roller bearing of one of the supports I I, II is secured, is firmly connected with one end of the second pipe stub9 by means of the arm I5 of a collar I5 which second pipe stub 9 is fastened to a sleeve surrounding the hollow shaft 9. The two pipe stubs 9' provided and the said sleeve are thus united into a single piece by the arms I5 of the two collars I5. This piece is secured to the carrier frame I by the arm 31 of the collar 37, and therace blocks I5" of the roller bearings of the two supports I I, l I for the forks Z and Z are firmly secured to this tubular piece.

When the road wheel axle I8 is coupled to the road wheels I, the forks Z, Z and Z" circulate as the machine is travelling, whereby the forks pick up the material to be spread, convey it upwards through a hood 8 secured to the carrier frame I,

loosen the material and fling it off rearwardly in various directions.

The number of sup-ports with forks extending obliquely to the road wheel axle as well as that of supports with forks extending perpendicularly thereto may be varied from one up. Alternatively, these supports may be arranged on an axle different from the road wheel axle extending parallel to the latter at a distance therefrom, and the drive of which is derived from the road wheel axle or from some other source.

Various changes and modifications may be circulatory forks for spreading the material connected to said rotary support side by side, fork supports interconnectingsaid rotary support and said forks and extending outwardly from said rotary support inclined at different angles to the axis of said axle for adjacent forks to rotate about said axis in planes forming an acute angle to each other, a coupling intercalated betweensaid axle and said rotary support for transmitting the rotation of said axle to said rotary support, and means for disconnecting said coupling at will.

2. In a machine for spreading cut grass and like materials, a rotary axle having carrier wheels thereon, a rotary support surrounding said axle, circulatory forks for spreading the material connected to said rotary support side by side, fork supports interconnecting said rotary support and said forks and extending outwardly from said rotary support with adjacent fork supports inclined at difierent angles to the axis of said axle so that said adjacent supports rotate about said axis in planes forming an acute angle to each other, another fork support interconnecting said rotary support and another fork and extending perpendicularly to the axis of said axle so that said other fork rotates about said axis in a plane perpendicular thereto, and a disconnectible coupling intercalated between said axle and said rotary support for transmitting the rotation of said axle to said rotary support.

MARTIN NEIDHART. 

